Barriers and facilitators of vector-borne diseases knowledge translation: a scoping review

Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) such as leishmaniasis, dengue, and malaria continue to pose major public health challenges, driven by environmental, socioeconomic, and climatic factors. Although numerous studies have generated valuable evidence, research findings are rarely translated into effective policy and practice. This evidence-to-policy gap hinders disease control efforts and leads to wasted resources. Knowledge translation (KT) is critical for bridging this gap. This scoping review maps the barriers and facilitators to KT in VBD control, with particular focus on leishmaniasis, dengue, and malaria. This scoping review followed Arksey and O’Malley’s framework (refined by Levac et al. [1]) and PRISMA-ScR guidelines. English and Persian databases (PubMed, Scopus, MagIran, SID) and grey literature (Google Scholar, MOHME, WHO, TDR) were searched from 2000 to November 2025. Eligible documents addressed KT in vector-borne diseases. Data were analyzed using framework based on the six-domain KT framework: Knowledge Producer, Knowledge, Knowledge User, Communications, Organization, and Environment. In this review, 97 studies were included. The 134 barriers and 117 facilitators were categorized into six main domains: Knowledge Producer, Knowledge, Knowledge User, Communications, Organization, and Environment. The most frequent barriers included researchers’ limited policy engagement skills and individualistic approaches, fragmented and delayed evidence lacking economic evaluations, policymakers’ low evidence literacy and resistance to change, weak researcher-policymaker linkages, absence of formal KT structures and dedicated budgets, alongside political instability and funding volatility. Additionally, the most frequent facilitators included targeted capacity-building, policy briefs and evidence synthesis, stakeholder dialogues, formal KT platforms, organizational champions, context-adapted multi-sectoral collaborations (including One Health approaches), knowledge brokers, dedicated funding, and sustained researcher-policymaker relationships. This review identifies critical barriers and facilitators of KT for vector-borne disease control. Overcoming the main obstacles through institutional KT structures, capacity building, stronger researcher-policymaker partnerships, and context-adapted multi-sectoral strategies is essential. These actions have the potential to accelerate the translation of research evidence into policy and practice, supporting sustainable prevention and control efforts and reducing vector-borne diseases in endemic regions.